Fracking lawsuits are going away in Denton

Now that it has completely beaten Denton and its voters into submission, the state’s oil and gas industry has decided it no longer needs to continue its lawsuit against the city or extract further financial penance.

It’s about time. It’s been five months since the Legislature awarded the industry the prize it sought and assured that Denton residents could not control it.

The Texas Oil and Gas Association filed suit November, immediately after almost 59 percent of Denton’s voters approved a ban on hydraulic fracturing within the city.

TXOGA then went to work on legislators, seeking a new law saying cities could not enact such bans. Lawmakers obliged with House Bill 40 in April.